Clever Deception: M.A Comley & Linda S. Prather ~ Review

The press call him the Escape Artist, and he is certainly living up to his name.

Sergeant Alexandra Fox has never come up against such a devious mind in her entire career. Ten young women, seven of them wives of fellow officers, have been found tortured and murdered. Every tiny lead fizzles out, and he revels in taunting them by phone, torturing them mentally as he forces them to listen to the screams of his victims.

Alexandra, is determined to catch him before he kills again, unaware that she’s become the object of his obsession until he issues one last threat: “I thought I would give you one warning. A chance to back away and leave the investigation. Don’t make me punish you.”

My Rating: 5/5

My Review:

I was given this book by M.A Comley & Linda S. Prather in exchange for an honest review.

Woooohooooo! I am absolutely over the moon to have found another series I can sink my teeth into! I absolutely adored this novella and really got a thirst for the novel (Tragic Deception) that will follow.

Set in Gloucester, a variety of themes run throughout the pages and include, but not limited to: revenge; loss; secrets; grief; pain (both physical and emotional); regret and a journey of justice which I loved!

For such a short novella, it really grabs you by the throat – the plot had me hooked and I was so absorbed in the story, I finished it on my daily commute! Eeeeeeeek! I am so excited about this series!!

Told from the third person POV, the story is filled with characters that caught my attention. The main character: Sergeant Alexandra Fox, is one I can see becoming a fast favourite of mine. Intelligent, determined, feisty but also quite high strung – her desire for justice often sees her going against protocol to achieve a means to an end. I also adored, Bob Bachelor – a colleague of Alex’s from the Murder Squad who tries to keep Alex grounded. The two have a great rapport and I am looking forward to see how their characters/relationships develop. Inspector Maurice Jordan also caught my interest. I am still not sure about whether I like him or not as he is your typical hard-nosed boss, but when confronted, he can see sense. But something still niggles about him- so I will wait and see where this leads in the novel. Oh and of course, I cannot leave out The Escape Artist!! I was totally reminded of Buffalo Bill from Silence of The Lambs with this character…and that thrilled me….as Silence of the Lambs is a favourite of mine! My curiosity was aroused and I was both repulsed and drawn to him. Absolutely brilliant!!

So if you are looking for a fast-paced, emotionally charged short story that will leave you wanting for more, I highly recommend you click the link and grab yourself a copy of this cracking read stat!!

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